The Importance of a Second Language

Having spent my school years in international schools I seem to take it for granted that everyone speaks more than one language. In fact I was always slightly ashamed that I only know two languages well and can just about get by in Spanish and French. (What i call cut and paste knowledge) Today as I am doing just that, cutting and pasting French and Spanish translations onto web pages, I realize that meager though my knowledge may be, I can always look at the text and guess what each word means. When I took French and Spanish I had no dreams of ever living in countries where I would need to converse in either, but throughout my working life, these skills have come in handy more times than I can count. More than just the obvious ways that knowing a second or third language comes in handy, I believe that it changes the way you think and adapt to cultures and the people in your life.

Cartoon taken from Borg Blog

The Namesake – Finding balance between two worlds

The other day my friend and I went to see Mira Nair’s The Namesake. We both grew up in Thailand, made our way here and for better or worse are here to stay. She is however a double first generation immigrant. Her parents immigrated from Taiwan to Thailand where her family now lives. And so we find ourselves going to movies like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “The Namesake” subconsciously trying to find our stories in others and perhaps on an even deeper level trying to find answers to the questions that plague us as first generation immigrants.

Things are not quite the same as the movie. I think that we probably have more in common with the sons and daughters of the first generation immigrants. I grew up in different countries…in fact I have spent the majority of my life outside of Thailand. I never thought of myself as being particularly Thai until I am far away from it and I grapple with my self identity here. I hold on to my ‘good’ name refusing to change my last name in marriage. I patiently spell out all 20 letters that make up my entire name to confused telephone operators. Changing my name would make things so much simpler…but I am afraid that people would think I am white. That in time I would lose all my connection with my roots.

133k H-1B visa applications submitted in 2 days

That’s the front page headline of Information week (April 9,2007) Yes, I admit I am not the most current blogger around I just received a notice that my greencard application has been received. Staying in this country has been a 10 year struggle. If you are American, you have no idea of the trauma and stress this involves (unless you are involved intimately with an alien..and not the flying green kind)

Its one of my pet peeves. Its a constant topic of discussion between foreigners living in the US. Every time we meet, ultimately the issue comes up. What’s your status? What kind of visa do you have? How much time do you have? What are your plans? When that 6 year H1-B limitations came up, I saw many of my friends leave the country. It was just too hard to stay. We are all tax paying people (most likely contributing more than 70% of the general population) We contribute to social security and unemployment knowing that most likely we will never see the benefits. We live in a state of impermanence unable to make long term plans.

Look ma, I’m in a game!

I’m on a ‘games about social issues’ list. Somewhere deep in my brain I do believe in games as a medium for communication (and thus education) Today something came by my mailbox that filled my morning with part giggles and part indignation.

Artwork by Silhouette Studios

Silhouette Studios has been contracted by BreakThrough TV to develop an immigration game. Hell, I’ve been living the immigration game for 10 years! If only I had a game to teach me about it…..NOT! But seriously it could be one way to explain to Americans how hard it really is to stay in the country legally (especially if you are from a ‘developing’ country)

So I clicked to it out of curiousity…I was faced with some artwork. Hmm let’s see…hey look! the visa holder look JUST like me (if I were to be a man) And the greencard holder looks suspiciously European and well dressed. I love the fact that the undocumented male has a skateboard. I am sure that will come in handy when escaping from the INS and that guy doesn’t even look like the type that would know what to do with a skatebaord. Don’t even get me startedon the asylum seeker.

If this is truely an educational game about immigration, I hope it goes further to break the stereotypes of immigrants. The artwork seems typical to me and really all these different types of people can be in any one of these immigration situations. I hope that this game gets THAT point across.

Well its a BreakThrough product and they are good folks with good intentions. They’ve done some work with the non-profit I consult for so I have my fingers crossed that the game will come out as a worthwhile effort.